(1796. | 

-defque criticifm. 
he will be the perfon moft furprifed-at 
the circumftances I have ftated. It 
would not degrade him to explain. He 
knows that the propenfity afcribed to the 
knave of hearts is not unexampled among 
authors; and‘here are {pecial appear- 
ances fufficient to induce many a grand 
jury to fendabillinto court. Should he 
and his friends be filent, the public will 
have to choofe between the oppofite im- 
probabilities, a fchoolboy meeting with a 
f{carce book, or of his inventing a new 
mode of compofition. I have no enmity 
to Mr.C., of his public conduét, I do 
not think with refpeét. But this feeling 
I venture to believe that I have in com- 
mon with fome of thofe, whom he calls 
his friends. Nor is it any difparagement to 
his abilities, to affirm, that his other ef- 
fays, his univerfity prize poem, and his 
{peeches, exhibit more of imitative than 
of inventive talent. 
It is always curious to trace the origin 
of ideas; and this communication, if it 
ferve no other purpofe, may excite fome 
more learned correfpondent to produce 
an earlier {pecimen of this {pecies of bur- 
B. 
=e 
Jo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
pee enquiry made by your correfpon- 
- dent, whether the ode, * Quales per 
Nemorum,’ fhould be affigned to Bourne 
or Jortin, has recalled to my mind a fimi- 
Jar circumftance, which, from the obfcu- 
rity of the authors, is probably an object 
of lefs curiofity, but, I am inclined to 
think, of more difficult folution. Among 
the Deliciz Poetarum Danorum, are the 
poems of Vitus Beringius. Inthe perufal 
of his works, I met with the following lines : 
Vide Delicie Poet. Dan. tom. ii. p. 172. 
Heu quam perpetuum eft nihil ! 
Quam nunquam ftabili gradu 
fii fors fragilis manet ! 
Et quz tuta putes brevi 
Momento Deus obfiruit ! 
Sic mundi imperium cadit 
Preceps, occidis, occidis 
Imis eruta fedibus 
O gentis domus exfulis : 
Nec Saturnia te Jovis 
Conjux eripere, et foror 
Nec quicquid fuperum eft, valet, 
Urgent irrevocabiles 
Parcarum exitium coli : 
Stat defixa adamantinis 
Clavis dura neceffitas 
Et fati {tabilis rigor, 
Qui terram et mare continet 
Ac rerum dominos premens 
Infra fe {uperos habet, 8c. &c. 
MontHLy Mac. No. LV, 
The Enquirer. 
No.. IV. 273 
The above are taken from the ‘ Natili- 
tie Chorez, written at the baptifm of 
the daughter of Frederick the Third, of 
Denmark, and publithed, Hafniz, 1649. 
It was not without furprize, that I fowad 
the very fame lines given to the chorus, in 
a tragedy written by ‘ Dionyfius Petavius,’ 
and entitled * Carthaginienfes.’ If this 
writer be the celebrated Dennis Petau, 
who died 1652, it would appear, that the 
Dane was guilty of the theft, as it is well 
known, that dramatic compofition was a 
{cholaftic exercife, impofed by the Jefuits 
on their pupils; and the ‘ Carthaginien- 
fes,’ which is to be found in a Collection 
of Tragedies, written by members of that 
fociety, was, probably, if compofed by 
Petau, a juvenile produétion. I fhould be 
happy, if any of your correfpondents 
could inform me, if fuch a tragedy is to 
be found in the catalogue of works, writ- 
ten by thar learned theologian ? 
Gray’s Inn, May 6. W.R. 
AV.B, In my laft, for Watton, read Warton. 

THE ENQUIRER. No. IV. 
Question : Is Private Affection incone 
Jiftent with Univerfal Benevolence ? 
Self-love but ferves the virtuous mind to wake, 
As the {mooth pebble ftirs the peaceful lake ; 
The centre mov’d, a circle ftraight fucceeds ; 
Another fill, and ftill another fpreads ; 
Friend, parent, neighbour, firft, it will em- 
brace ; 
His country next, and next all human race ; 
Wide and more wide, th’ overflowings of the 
mind 
Take every creature in, of every kind; 
‘Earth fmiles around with boundlefs bounty 
bleft, 
And heav’n behold its image in its breaft. 
PoPE.’ 
AHE refult of long enquiry concerning 
the nature of morals, feems to have 
been a general agreement among philofo- 
phers in the fyftem which places the vir- 
tuous Principle in the benevolent defire, 
and virtuous Aétion in the wife purfuit, of 
univerfal happinefs. We now hear little 
of Plato’s Moral Beauty, Ariftotle’s Mid- 
die Path, or Zeno’s Conformity to Nature; 
of Clarke’s Fitnefs of Things, Woollafton’s 
Truth of Aé€tion, or Shafrfbury’s Balance 
of the Affeétions. Utility is now commonly 
underftood to be the only characteriftic of 
virtue ; that courfe of aétion which is moft 
produétive of good, is admitted to be 
moft virtuous; and he is efteemed the 
beft man, who, with the greateft integrity 
of principle, ardour of {pirit, and energy 
of action, endeavours to promote the ge- 
neral welfare. 
Na If 
